OFAC Expands Capacity of Designated Entities to Pay for Legal Services

(hat tip: Charlie Dunlap)  OFAC has issued a final rule amending the TSR and GTSR sanction regimes to expand the options for designated entities to pay for certain legal services.  Presumably this is at least indirectly responsive to issues that arose over the past year when the ACLU and CCR sought to represent Anwar al-Aulaqi’s father in the targeted killing case, and when the Humanitarian Law Project litigation (which dealt with the 2339B material support regime, not an IEEPA regime) raised similar questions about the provision of legal services to designated terrorist organizations.  Whatever the origin, the full details of the new rule are posted here, and the summary follows:

SUMMARY: The Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') of the U.S. Department of the Treasury is amending the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (``GTSR'') and the Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (``TSR'') to expand the scope of authorizations in each of those programs for the provision of certain legal services. In addition, OFAC is adding new general licenses under the GTSR, the TSR, and the Foreign Terrorist Organizations Sanctions Regulations to authorize U.S. persons to receive specified types of payment for certain authorized legal services. DATES: Effective Date: December 7, 2010.